---
The train hummed softly through the silence of night.
Akira sat by the window, his reflection flickering against the moving city lights. The dim glow washed across his half-shadowed face — crimson and black eyes shifting faintly with the rhythm of passing poles. For a long while, he didn't speak. Even Masahiro's voice inside the pendant had gone quiet.
His fingers brushed against the black pendant resting over his chest. Even sealed, Yamitsurugi pulsed faintly within it — as if something inside was awake, listening.
He sighed softly.
"…Feels like things are just starting."
Outside, the neon cityscape blurred into darkness. But within his reflection — for a second — he thought he saw something. A faint silhouette behind his own reflection… tall, still, smiling faintly.
Then it was gone.
He blinked once and looked away.
Maybe he was just tired.
Maybe not.
---
Meanwhile — somewhere across the city.
The night wind was sharp over the rooftops. Ryozen stood near the edge of an abandoned tower, his coat fluttering quietly. His gaze was fixed on the spot where he had erased the small black vortex earlier — but now, something else had appeared.
A single sigil, carved into the ground — barely visible, pulsing like a heartbeat. It wasn't any shadow mark. It was far older.
He knelt, tracing it with gloved fingers. The surface felt colder than the void itself. His brow furrowed.
"…This isn't Ren's doing."
The sigil flickered again, and in that moment, Ryozen felt it — a pull, like gravity trying to drag his consciousness inward. The scent of ashes and distant cries filled the air, faint whispers brushing against his ear.
> "The seal is breaking… they move again…"
He stood quickly, gripping his glaive's handle that appeared beside him in a shimmer of dark gold.
"Not on my watch."
---
Back on the train, Akira had reached his stop. The streets were empty, the lights dim and tired. He walked alone, his shadow stretching long across the asphalt.
Masahiro's voice finally returned — distant, calm.
> "You've been quiet, kid."
Akira exhaled. "Just… thinking. About everything. Varek, Ren, Ryozen's words… feels like everyone's moving toward something I can't see."
> "You'll see it soon enough. Just remember — the balance inside you is fragile. Don't let the shadows feed off your guilt."
He smirked faintly. "You sound like him."
> "He learned it from me."
That made Akira chuckle quietly — just for a moment. But then the ground under his feet vibrated.
He stopped.
The streetlight above flickered twice, then shattered. Darkness spread down the road like ink.
The pendant at his chest glowed faintly — reacting. Yamitsurugi's pulse quickened.
"…Ryozen?" he whispered, but no answer came.
---
Across the city — the rooftops trembled.
Ryozen turned sharply as a wave of black mist surged upward from the sigil, forming a massive vortex overhead. Within that cloud, hundreds of voices screamed in overlapping tones — desperate, hollow, endless.
His eyes narrowed.
"This pattern… this isn't summoning. It's extraction."
He realized it — someone was pulling energy from the Void into the human world. Not to summon Shadows… but to create a vessel.
He spun his weapon once and slammed the glaive into the sigil. Golden light burst out, colliding with the darkness. The air cracked, and for a moment, silence. Then — a faint laugh echoed across the rooftops.
> "Still too late… as always."
Ryozen froze. The voice was distorted — familiar but ancient.
"…Varek."
He turned, scanning the shadows, but the figure was gone — only the fading laughter remained.
---
Back with Akira.
The wind turned cold enough to freeze breath midair.
Akira gripped the pendant tightly, and Yamitsurugi's sealed energy resonated through his veins. Every nerve in his body screamed caution.
Masahiro's voice tensed.
> "Stay alert. I can feel it — something's bending reality near you."
"Yeah," Akira whispered. "I can feel it too."
The ground cracked open ahead of him — a small fissure bleeding darkness. From it, something crawled out. Not a Shadow — not fully. It was half-formed, a creature caught between existence and memory. Its limbs were thin, its face hidden under shifting smoke.
Akira steadied his stance — red aura weaving faintly with black. "You're far from your master, aren't you?"
The creature hissed but didn't attack. It simply… stared.
Masahiro spoke again.
> "That's not a creature. It's a message."
Akira's grip tightened. "A message?"
Before he could move, the thing lunged forward — not to strike, but to dissolve. Its entire body collapsed into a thousand fragments of dark light, spiraling into the sky. They formed a single phrase in the air, burning with faint crimson fire:
"The Second Has Moved."
Akira's pupils contracted.
He immediately knew — Varek wasn't acting alone.
---
Parallel — Ryozen's perspective.
He stood, his glaive still humming, watching as the sigil disintegrated under his seal. But beneath the golden light, a shadowy inscription appeared — ancient, circular, and incomplete. He recognized only one fragment of the language.
> "The Second."
He clenched his jaw. "Varek, what are you planning?"
The skyline behind him twisted — faint silhouettes moving through the fog. He felt something — a rhythm that wasn't of this world, a heartbeat that didn't belong to humans.
He turned toward the horizon — toward where Akira was.
"Kid…" he muttered, vanishing instantly into light.
---
Akira's world again.
The crimson message faded. The streetlights flickered back to life. Everything returned to stillness — too sudden, too clean.
Akira stood there, breathing steady, the pendant pulsing faintly at his chest.
He whispered, "…The Second has moved."
> "Meaning Varek wasn't just here for you," Masahiro said.
"He was setting something else in motion."
"Something bigger."
He glanced at the sky — faint cracks of light above the clouds, rippling like veins.
Then, from behind, a voice — sharp, calm, cold.
> "You're starting to see it."
Akira turned.
Ryozen stood there, his coat fluttering, eyes glowing faintly gold.
Akira sighed in relief. "You felt it too?"
Ryozen nodded, gaze fixed on the sky. "Yeah. Whatever Varek started… it's spreading through every seal I placed years ago. The balance between dimensions is thinning."
"So what now?"
Ryozen's tone was quiet, unreadable.
"Now… we find out what The Second is."
Akira looked down at the pendant — its glow trembling faintly as if Yamitsurugi itself already knew.
Masahiro's faint whisper reached both of them through the air.
> "You're not ready for him yet."
Akira's eyes narrowed. "Then I'll get ready."
Ryozen glanced at him, a faint smirk at the corner of his lips. "You sound like me."
Akira shrugged. "Guess it runs in the team."
The two stood in silence as the city lights flickered around them. Somewhere above, the clouds pulsed faintly — not lightning, not thunder, but something darker trying to awaken.
Far away, unseen — in a chamber made of bone and glass — Varek opened his eyes, whispering to the void:
> "Phase two begins."